A. J. Liebling, born in Manhattan in 1904, joined the staff of the New Yorker in 1935 and contributed innumerable articles to the magazine throughout his lifetime, on subjects ranging from food to boxing and France to horse racing. As a war correspondent during the Second World War, he reported from France, England and Algeria, and participated in the Normandy landings. In later life he married the writer Jean Stafford, his third wife. He died in 1963.

A. J. Liebling

A. J. Rosen is an author of YA fantasy and is known as @agatharoza on Wattpad.

A. J. Rosen

A. K. Davidson

A. O. Scott has been a film critic at the New York Times since 2000. His writing has appeared in many other publications, including the New York Review of Books, Slate, the New Yorker and the Nation. A finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in criticism in 2010, Scott is currently Distinguished Professor of Film Criticism at Wesleyan University. He lives with his family in Brooklyn, New York. 
 
@aoscott

A. O. Scott

A.S. Byatt (1936-2023) was a novelist, short-story writer and critic of international renown. Her novels include Possession (winner of the Booker Prize 1990), the Frederica Quartet and The Children’s Book, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction. She was appointed CBE in 1990 and DBE in 1999, and was awarded the Erasmus Prize 2016 for her ‘inspiring contribution to life writing’ and the Pak Kyongni Prize 2017. In 2018 she received the Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award.

A. S. Byatt

A. T. Williams won the George Orwell Prize for Political Writing in 2013 for his book A Very British Killing: The Death of Baha Mousa. He lives in Warwickshire.

A. T. Williams

A. W. Chase

Dubbed ‘The new queen of spy fiction’ by the Guardian newspaper, and ‘the real thing’ by the Washington Post, A.C. 'Ava' Glass is the CWA Dagger-shortlisted author of Alias Emma (The Chase), The Traitor and The Trap. The Traitor was a 2023 Richard and Judy Bookclub pick. Alias Emma was a Barnes and Noble book of the month. A former crime reporter and communications consultant, for five years Ava worked closely with spies. Her time in that world fascinated her, and the people she met back then inspire every book she writes.

A.C. Glass

A.E. Housman

Arthur Edward Waite was the designer and co-creator of the now famous Rider Waite Tarot deck. 
 
An American-born British poet and scholarly mystic, his strong interest in all esoteric matters - divination, magic, Kabbalism, alchemy and Freemasony - led to him penning a number of books. These include the Key to the Tarot, The Book of Ceremonial Magic and A New Encyclopedia of Freemasony.

A.E. Waite

A.E. Warren is the author of the Tomorrow's Ancestors series, which consists of Subject Twenty-One, The Hidden Base, The Fourth Species and The Final Rising. 
 
After spending eight years working as a lawyer, she began to write in the evenings and early mornings as a form of escapism from life in a very small cubicle with lots of files. She self-published her first novels in her spare time, which were picked up by Del Rey UK which is the science fiction/fantasy imprint of Penguin Random House. 
 
 She is an avid reader, occasional gamer and fair-weather runner. She lives in the UK with her husband, daughter and hopefully, one day, a wise border terrier named Austen.

A.E. Warren

A.G.D. Maran

A.J. Ayer

A K Benedict writes crime and speculative fiction in a room filled with clowns, mannequins and Doctor Who figures. Her first novel, The Beauty of Murder, was nominated for an eDunnit award and is in development for a major 8-part TV series by Company Pictures. Her second, Jonathan Dark or The Evidence of Ghosts, came out in February 2016. She's written Torchwood audio dramas for Big Finish and her short stories have featured in anthologies including Great British Horror and Best British Short Stories. She lives in St Leonards-on-Sea with her dog, Dame Margaret Rutherford.

A.K.Benedict

A. L. Kennedy has twice been selected as one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists and has won a host of other awards – including the Costa Book of the Year for her novel Day. She lives in Essex.

A.L. Kennedy

A.M. Ellis is a speculative fiction author and lover of everything steeped in myth and mystery. Her stories often lean into diverse voices, not only in her identity as a Black woman, but in exploring neurodivergence and mental health. A proud introvert and nostalgic gamer, she lives in Maryland, USA, with her husband and three children. Angelica is also the author of Hunt A Killer, a PERFECT SCORE novel, under the pen name A.M. Ellis, which she wrote as an IP for Scholastic in the US.

A.M. Ellis

A.N. Wilson was born in 1950 and educated at Rugby and New College, Oxford. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, he holds a prominent position in the world of literature and journalism. He is an award-winning biographer and a celebrated novelist, winning prizes for much of his work. He lives in North London.

A.N. Wilson

A.T. Emerald

A.W. Priest

A.B.C. Merriman-Labor was a barrister, writer and munitions worker born in Freetown, Sierra Leone in 1877. His published works include A Series of Lectures on the Negro Race and The Story of the African Slave in a Nutshell. He also edited two editions of the Handbook of Sierra Leone. He arrived in the UK in 1904 to study law. In 1907, he organised a centenary commemoration of the abolition of the slave trade in Westminster Abbey. He later embarked on an 'entertainment-lecture' tour called Life and Scenes in Britain, travelling across thousands of miles of West, South West and Central Africa, which he expanded on to create Britons Through Negro Spectacles.

ABC Merriman-Labor

AJ Cronin

AJ Molloy

Aabria Iyengar is an American actress and author.

Aabria Iyengar

Aaliya Jaleel is a freelance illustrator, designer, and visual development artist, currently majoring in Animation at the University of Texas at Dallas. She is also the illustrator of Under My Hijab and Muslim Girls Rise. You can visit her online at www.aaliyamj.com.

Aaliya Jaleel

Aaron Allston

After more than fifteen years of experience as a clinical psychotherapist, Dr Aaron Balick has taken the amazing insights from psychology and psychotherapy out of the consultation room and made them accessible to the wider world. 
 
He has been an ‘agony uncle’ for many years for both CBBC and BBC Radio 1, as well as on television, including BBC Worldwide, BBC 3 and BBC Learning.

Aaron Balick

Aaron Carroll

Aaron Dignan is the founder of The Ready--a global organizational transformation and coaching practice--that helps companies large and small adopt new forms of self-organization and dynamic teaming. Clients include Johnson &amp; Johnson, Microsoft, Lloyds Bank, Citibank, Boeing, Mailchimp, Airbnb, Dropbox, and charity: water. 
 
He is also the founder of Murmur--a SaaS startup that helps teams scale culture through the magic of working agreements. The Murmur platform will allow every team on the planet to define and share their ways of working. 
 
Dignan is the author of Brave New Work (2019) and Game Frame (2011), co-host of the Brave New Work podcast, and a friend to misfit toys.

Aaron Dignan

Aaron Edwards is a senior lecturer in defence and international affairs at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, specialising in terrorism and counter-insurgency. He is the author and editor of several books, including Defending the Realm: The Politics of Britain’s Small Wars Since 1945, and has lectured all over the world on aspects of national and international security. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

Aaron Edwards

Aaron Robertson is a writer, an editor, and a translator of Italian literature. His translation of Igiaba Scego’s Beyond Babylon was short-listed for the 2020 PEN Translation Prize and the National Translation Award, and in 2021 he received a National Endowment for the Arts grant. His work has appeared in the New York Times, The Nation, Foreign Policy, n+1, The Point, and Literary Hub, among other publications. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Aaron Robertson

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Patrick Barclay

The Man Who Made A Football Club 
 
Sir Matt Busby, who took Manchester United to unprecedented glory before seeing the club through profound tragedy, created the global entity that spreads from Old Trafford today. 
 
A player with Manchester City and Liverpool before the Second World War, Busby remained at the forefront of football through four decades and made an extraordinary contribution to the game in terms of both style and substance. In this definitive biography, Patrick Barclay looks back at Busby’s phenomenal life and career, including the rise of the Busby Babes in the 1950s, the Munich disaster that claimed 23 lives and the Wembley victory ten years on that made United the first English team to win the European Cup. Denis Law, Pat Crerand and such other members of that great side as Alex Stepney, David Sadler and John Aston are among the host of voices testifying to the qualities that set Sir Matt apart. 
 
This is the story of one of the greatest figures in football history, and of the making of a legacy that will last for ever.

Sir Matt Busby

The Man Who Made a Football Club

The Definitive Biography

Anna

Jason Johnson

**Now watch the BBC drama Doing Money** 
 
‘They took me because I would not be missed’ 
 
This is the shocking true story of how an ordinary young girl was kidnapped off the street as she walked home and turned into a slave – before fighting for her freedom and finding the courage to help the police in one of the UK’s most shocking modern-day slavery trials. 
 
Anna was an innocent student when she was kidnapped, beaten and forced into the sex slave industry. Threatened and tormented by her pimps, she was made to sleep with thousands of men. But she would not allow them to break her. On learning that she would be trafficked from Ireland to Dubai, she found the courage to trick her captors and flee. Later, she would also find that same resilience to help the police bring down her abductors in what has now become one of our biggest windows into the worldwide sex trafficking trade. 
 
For the first time, the girl at the centre of the storm reveals the heart-breaking truth.

Slave

Snatched off Britain’s streets. The truth from the victim who brought down her traffickers.

Danny Wallace

In the brilliant AWKWARD SITUATIONS FOR MEN, Danny Wallace entertained us with wonderfully funny true stories from his often embarrassing and bewildering everyday life as a man. 
 
Well, Danny is back - and he's even more confused than ever! 
 
A lot has happened to Danny Wallace in the past year. He has had a baby and has been hobnobbing with the powers that be in Hollywood. But that hasn't made him any less awkward. 
 
Being more of a grown up brings its own baffling etiquette and expected social graces, and no-one has told Danny. 
 
Join Danny once again on his very funny stumble through more Awkward Situations. It's not easy being a man!

More Awkward Situations for Men

Pénélope Bagieu

'Pénélope Bagieu … is a kind of genius. This book already feels like a classic, one to be loved by every girl who reads it from now until the end of time.' Rachel Cooke, The Observer 
 
Immerse yourself in the captivating adventures of some of history’s unsung heroines, whose stories are told through engaging voices, dazzling drawings and with startling wit. 
 
Discover the life of an apache warrior dubbed “strong as a man and braver than most of them”, the only female Empress of China, three rebel sisters who toppled a fascist regime, a dancer who escaped poverty in America to become the darling of the Paris jazz scene and a resistance fighter, and a little girl who grew up to realise that being a witch is better than being a princess. 
 
Take in the stories of volcanologists, astronauts, animal whisperers, activists and explorers and feel ready to take on the world. 
 
Illustrated by award-winning Parisian artist Pénélope Bagieu, humorous dialogue and uncommon true tales make Brazen an ideal book for anyone who loves trail blazers and courageous women, from Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls to The Handmaid’s Tale.

Brazen

Rebel Ladies Who Rocked The World

Martin Corona

From Boy Scout to assassin – the true confessions of a cartel hitman 
 
At the age of twelve Martin Corona started dealing drugs. After years in and out of prison, he rose through the ranks to become the leader of an elite killing squad for a notorious Tijuana drug cartel. Now haunted by his past deeds, he lives with the fact that he once pulled the trigger on a pregnant woman in front of her seven-year-old child, and accidentally shot a cardinal while hunting down El Chapo in an airport. 
 
Martin Corona has been convicted of multiple murders committed during his time as a cartel career hitman. These killings were brutal and cruelly efficient. Corona's gang would cross into the United States from their luxurious hideout in Mexico, eradicate whoever needed to be killed north of the border, and return home in the afternoon. 
 
In this book, Martin’s shocking first-hand confessions illuminate his descent from teenage drug dealer to murderous member of the drug cartel run by the Arellano brothers that dominated the Southern California drug trade - and initiated much violent gang warfare - for decades. 
 
Martin's story illuminates how a young boy, who played Little League football and was a Boy Scout, became a vicious criminal. Both shocking and powerful, it asks us how someone can inflict so much evil and whether they can find forgiveness on the other side.

Confessions of a Cartel Hitman

Rachel Williams

‘He pushed open the door, and I saw that he was pulling something out of a bag he was carrying. It was a gun – a sawn-off shotgun.’ 
 
Featured on ITV's Lorraine with Michael Sheen and Rachel Williams. 
 
 Darren was funny and attractive, and 21-year-old Rachel fell head-over-heels for him; it wasn’t long before they moved in together, and she fell pregnant with his child. But his inner demons soon surfaced... Weakened and alone, Rachel was beaten and tormented by him for 18 years, until one day, Darren turned up at her place of work with a shotgun and left her for dead. But her ordeal wasn’t over… 
 
 Devastating yet inspiring, Rachel’s story of hope tells of how you can always find the light, even in the very darkest of times. 
 
‘Incredibly poignant and powerful.’ – Victoria Derbyshire 
 
 ‘Transformative. Life changing.’ – Michael Sheen

The Devil At Home

The horrific true story of a woman held captive

Cat Marnell

'I was twenty-six years old and an associate beauty editor at Lucky, one of the top fashion magazines in America. That’s all that most people knew about me. But beneath the surface, I was full of secrets: I was a drug addict, for one. A pillhead. I was also an alcoholic-in-training who guzzled warm Veuve Clicquot after work alone in my boss’s office with the door closed; a conniving and manipulative uptown doctor-shopper; a salami-and-provolone-puking bulimic who spent a hundred dollars a day on binge foods when things got bad (and they got bad often); a weepy, wobbly, wildly hallucination-prone insomniac; a tweaky self-mutilator; a slutty and self-loathing downtown party girl; and – perhaps most of all – a lonely weirdo. But, you know, I had access to some really fantastic self-tanner.' 
 
By the age of 15, Cat Marnell longed to work in the glamorous world of women's magazines - but was also addicted to the ADHD meds prescribed by her father. Within 10 years she was living it up in New York as a beauty editor at Condé Nast, with a talent for 'doctor-shopping' that secured her a never-ending supply of prescribed amphetamines. Her life had become a twisted merry-go-round of parties and pills at night, while she struggled to hold down her high-profile job during the day. 
 
Witty, magnetic and penetrating - prompting comparisons to Bret Easton Ellis and Charles Bukowski - Cat Marnell reveals essential truths about her generation, brilliantly uncovering the many aspects of being an addict with pin-sharp humour and beguiling style. 
 
 
'New York's enfant terrible...Her talent has resided in her uncanny ability to write about addiction from the untidy, unsafe, unhappy epicentre of the disease, rather than from some writerly remove.' Telegraph 
 
'I LOVE this book' Catriona Innes, Cosmopolitan Magazine UK 
 
'An unputdownable, brilliantly written rollercoaster' Shappi Khorsandi 
 
'Brilliantly written and harrowing and funny and honest' Louise France, The Times Magazine 
 
'Easily one of the most anticipated memoirs of the year...[Marnell's] got an inimitable style (and oh my god, so many have tried) and a level of talent so high, it's impossible not to be rooting for her.' NYLON

How to Murder Your Life

Isabel Eriksson

"I'm not going to let you go. It took longer than I'd bargained to get you unconscious. I'm planning to keep you here for a couple of years or so." 
 
When Isabel Eriksson wakes up she’s not sure where she is. She’s got a needle in her arm. Next to the bed a man is sitting and staring at her. He tells her that he intends to keep her locked up. 
 
Isabel realises that the only way for her to get out alive is to somehow make him release her and so a psychological game begins. 
 
Will Isabel remain in the bunker forever?

You Are Mine

Drugged and Held in a Secret Bunker. This is My True Story of Escape.

Mark Felt

John O'Connor

NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE starring Liam Neeson. 
 
It was the biggest mystery of American history. A shadowy source deep within Washington had leaked crucial information to two journalists, helping them uncover the historical Watergate Scandal of 1972. But who was this elusive source and what were his motivations? Thirty-three years later, the FBI’s Mark Felt would finally identify himself as Deep Throat, the Watergate Whistleblower. This is his story. 
 
Mark Felt learnt spy craft tracking Nazi and Soviet spies, tackled mobsters in Kansas City and took down the FBI’s most wanted list, rising through the ranks under J Edgar Hoover to one of the FBI’s top positions. 
 
A life spent watching pivotal moments of history unfold, Mark Felt was the eyes and ears of the intelligence service. Drawing on his memoirs, FBI memos, secret files and conversations with his family and friends, this is the account of a G-Man’s life and his struggle for honour in Washington. 
 
This new edition is updated with the help of Mark’s lawyer, John O’Connor, drawing on new developments and why now, the role of Deep Throat, is even more important than ever.

Felt

The Man Who Brought Down the White House – Now a Major Motion Picture

Heidi Harding

Tom Harding

Chloe Harding

He was our abusive father. 
We were just children. 
No one could know. 
 
Heidi was 18 when she read her little sister Chloe’s diary, and discovered that they shared a terrible secret: they had both been abused by their father. After years of fear and isolation, Heidi knew she had to go to the police. 
 
For a long time, Chloe resented Heidi for forcing her to disclose what had happened when she wasn’t ready, while their brother, Tom, couldn’t understand how he had so misjudged his father, and at first he didn’t believe their tale. The truth threatened to destroy them all. 
 
This is the very honest story of three siblings, and how a man they trusted threatened to tear their family apart.

Afraid to Tell

Juan Pablo Escobar

THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER FROM PABLO ESCOBAR’S SON 
 
Until now, we believed that everything had been said about the rise and fall of the most infamous drug lord of all time, Pablo Escobar – from books to film to the cult series ‘Narcos’. But these versions have always been told from the outside, only capturing half the truth, and never from the intimacy of his own home. Now, more than two decades after the full-fledged manhunt finally caught up with Escobar, his son brings us the dramatic truth as never before. 
 
Here we find a man of contradictions – generosity and infinite love for his family; yet capable of the most extreme acts of cruelty and violence. In a deeply personal exploration of his father, we see the inner world of a man who was celebrated by some as a benevolent Robin Hood figure and by others, as a dangerous leader of the most ruthless mafia organisation in human history, reaping vengeance and death on anyone that might stand in his way. 
 
When Escobar died, his then teenage son vowed revenge. But Escobar Jr. quickly recognised that meant following in his father's footsteps—something neither of them had ever wanted. With his change of heart, he denounced the Pablo Escobar legacy. This is far from the story of a child seeking redemption, but a shocking look at the consequences of violence and his attempt to come to terms with it.

Pablo Escobar

My Father

Stephen Fulcher

The true story behind the ITV series, A Confession 
 
'The gripping allure of long-form podcasts, such as Serial' Observer 
 
On the evening of Saturday, 19 March 2011, D.S. Stephen Fulcher receives a life-changing call that thrusts him into a race against the clock to save missing 22-year-old Sian O’Callaghan, who was last seen at a nightclub in Swindon. Steve knows from experience that he has a small window of time to find Sian alive, but his hopes are quickly dashed when his investigation leads him to Christopher Halliwell, a cabbie with sick obsessions. 
 
Following the investigation as it develops hour-by-hour, Steve’s gripping inside story of the cat-and-mouse situation that ensues shows how he hunted down Halliwell – his number-one suspect – which led him to the discovery of Sian’s body and another victim, Becky Godden-Edwards, who had been missing since 2002. The murders shocked the nation and Halliwell become one of the most hated men in Britain. Since then, he has been linked to several murders and disappearances, and has been called 'sick in the head' by an ex-cellmate for his unrelenting hatred of women. 
 
Catching a Serial Killer is a thrilling, devastating and absorbing look at a real-life murder case and potentially one of the UK’s most prolific serial killers.

Catching a Serial Killer

My hunt for murderer Christopher Halliwell, subject of the ITV series A Confession

Barbara Naughton

Barbara's father was a sadistic man at the best of times - his idea of fun was to kill the family dog by tying it to the back of his car and driving off. Also for kicks, he took his children out on to the lake and held them under until they were gasping for their lives. 
 
He sexually assaulted Barbara from a young age, often when the rest of the family were in the house. He repeatedly threatened to kill her, and made two very serious attempts. During the final attempt, as he was raping and choking her, Barbara made a vow - if she survived, she would come forward and get justice against her father ... 
 
Without Hope is a powerful and inspiring true story of a girl who finally found the inner strength to escape her brutal childhood.

Without Hope

A Childhood Ruined by the Man she should Trust the Most

Bobby Cummines

‘The next stage meant that there was no going back. An Irish prisoner stepped forward and slipped a blade into my hand. I felt the ice cold metal and pressed it against the governor’s cheek. I thought to myself: would they ever release me after this?’ 
 
Bobby Cummines was only 28 when he passed through the grim gates of Parkhurst, Britain’s Alcatraz, as a category-A prisoner with a host of crimes to his name. Joining the most notorious gangsters and criminals of the day – from the Krays, the Yorkshire Ripper and Charles Bronson, to high ranking members of the IRA – nothing could have prepared him for the brutal regime, violent convicts, vindictive screws and riots on the inside. It’s the story of Britain’s most hellish prison, from one of its hardest inmates.

The Parkhurst Years

My Time Locked Up with Britain’s Most Notorious Criminals

Stephan Talty

Discover the truth about the Black Hand, as featured in Peaky Blinders 
 
Beginning in the summer of 1903, an insidious crime wave filled New York City, and then the entire country, with fear. The children of Italian immigrants were kidnapped, and dozens of innocent victims were gunned down. Bombs tore apart tenement buildings. Judges, senators, Rockefellers, and society matrons were threatened with gruesome deaths. The perpetrators seemed both omnipresent and invisible. Their only calling card: the symbol of a black hand. The crimes whipped up the slavering tabloid press and heated ethnic tensions to the boiling point. 
 
Standing between the American public and the Black Hand’s lawlessness was Joseph Petrosino. Dubbed the “Italian Sherlock Holmes,” he was a famously dogged and ingenious detective, and a master of disguise. As the crimes grew ever more bizarre and the Black Hand’s activities spread far beyond New York’s borders, Petrosino and the all-Italian police squad he assembled raced to capture members of the secret criminal society before the country’s anti-immigrant tremors exploded into catastrophe. Petrosino’s quest to root out the source of the Black Hand’s power would take him all the way to Sicily—but at a terrible cost. 
 
Unfolding a story rich with resonance in our own era, The Black Hand is fast-paced narrative history at its very best.

The Black Hand

Hayley McGregor

‘He manipulated me by making me feel special … then duped me into thinking I was to blame.’ 
 
Hayley was just 12 when she met Mr Willson, the new drama teacher at her school. Good looking and charismatic, he was classic schoolgirl-crush material. Hayley was flattered by the attention he gave her, and he soon befriended her parents. Little did they know they were all being groomed. Hayley allowed Mr Willson to do unspeakable things to her, and after the relationship ended it took almost 20 years of guilt and crippling self-esteem issues before a complete breakdown prompted her to tell her parents, and they went with her to the police. 
 
This is the shocking true story of a schoolgirl groomed by her teacher, and her courageous journey to heal the wrongs of her past.

Teacher's Pet

Neil Woods

'Undercover, you're never just acting; you're only ever a different version of yourself.' 
 
Neil Woods spent fourteen years (1993-2007) infiltrating drug gangs as an undercover policeman, befriending and gaining the trust of some of the most violent, unpredictable criminals in Britain. But Neil was never your stereotypical gung-ho, tough-guy copper. This is the story of how a thoughtful, idealistic character learned to use his empathetic nature to master some of the roughest, most dangerous work in law enforcement. There was no training, no manual and no plan for when things went wrong; he was just dropped at a corner and told to make connections. But, inevitably, having swords thrust against his jugular, witnessing beatings, stabbings, and gangsters burning suspected rats with acid took its toll. 
 
Drawing on Neil’s experiences, with the insight that can only come from having fought on the front lines, GOOD COP, BAD WAR is at once a narrative-driven true crime read and a fascinating story of a character under pressure.

Good Cop, Bad War

Amanda Leask

As seen on ITV's Britain's Got Talent, where they captured the hearts of the nation, this is Amanda and Miracle's incredible story of survival, love and hope 
 
Snatched from the streets of Thailand, loaded onto a truck with hundreds of other stolen dogs and destined for the restaurants of Hanoi, Miracle the dog shouldn’t be alive today. 
 
But an incredible rescue led to a fateful meeting with Amanda Leask, a dog lover from Scotland. Devastated by Miracle’s plight and the hopelessness of his situation, she knew she had to do everything in her power to save him. But Amanda could never have imagined that in doing so she was really saving herself… Amanda’s six year-old son Kyle, who was born with cerebral palsy and autism, built a deep and lasting connection with Miracle and their special bond has transformed not only Kyle’s life but that of the entire family. 
 
Heartbreaking, inspirational and ultimately life-affirming, this incredible tale is proof that miracles really can happen…

Miracle

Tony Long

Tony Long was the best ‘shot’ the Met ever had. Under the codename ‘Echo 7’, he was ‘licenced to kill’ bringing down scores of targets, sometimes with deadly force. In 1985 he opened fire on a suspect to save a four-year-old girl whose mother had been stabbed to death by her assailant. Two years later he was involved in another high profile shooting while confronting three armed criminals. On both occasions Tony was commended by the Metropolitan Police Commissioner. But in the spring of 2005, coming face to face with suspected drug dealer and armed robber Azelle Rodney, a volley of point blank shots would bring his career crashing to an end, tarnish his reputation and leave him fighting a murder charge and possible life sentence. 
 
From life or death cases and botched operations to political fallouts, this book charts the controversial career from rookie seventies beat cop to Long's command of SO19 – the Met’s most elite specialist firearms unit. Long’s personal testimony and professional insight raises serious issues about the duties, pressures and responsibilities that fall on the shoulders of those we task to risk their lives, and take the lives of others, in our name.

Lethal Force

My Life As the Met’s Most Controversial Marksman

Chris Eakin

The true story of the tragic round-the-world yacht race - now the subject of The Mercy, starring Colin Firth and Rachel Weisz 
 
In 1968, the Sunday Times organised the Golden Globe race–an incredible test of endurance never before attempted–a round the world yacht race that must be completed single-handed and non-stop. 
 
This remarkable challenge inspired those daring to enter–with or without sailing experience. A Race Too Far is the story of how the race unfolded, and how it became a tragedy for many involved. 
 
Of the nine sailors who started the race, four realised the madness of the undertaking and pulled out within weeks. The remaining five each have their own remarkable story. Chay Blyth, fresh from rowing the Atlantic with John Ridgway, had no sailing experience but managed to sail round the Cape of Good Hope before retiring. Nigel Tetley sank while in the lead with 1,100 nautical miles to go, surviving but dying in tragic circumstances two years later. Donald Crowhurst began showing signs of mental illness and tried to fake a round the world voyage. His boat was discovered adrift in an apparent suicide, but his body was never found. Bernard Moitessier abandoned the race and carried on to Tahiti, where he settled and fathered a child despite having a wife and family in Paris. Robin Knox-Johnston was the only one to complete the race. 
 
Chris Eakin recreates the drama of the epic race, talking to all those touched by the Golden Globe: the survivors, the widows and the children of those who died. It is a book that both evokes the primary wonder of the adventure itself and reflects on what it has come to mean to both those involved and the rest of us in the forty years since.

A Race Too Far

Clive Driscoll

The true story behind the ITV series, Stephen 
 
Former Detective Chief Inspector Clive Driscoll is most famous for being the man who finally secured convictions for the murder of Stephen Lawrence, a case previously mired by claims of institutional racism and corruption. For Clive, it was the pinnacle of a 35-year career with the world's most famous police force, the Metropolitan Police Service. 
 
Clive's prodigious rise through the ranks of the Met saw him front some of the most high-profile units at Scotland Yard. He was put in charge of their policy for sexual offences, domestic violence, child protection and the paedophile unit before heading up the Racial and Violent Crime Task Force tackling their backlist of cold cases. 
 
From action-packed moments chasing down criminals to more tender occasions, like gaining the trust of a murder victim's family, to making crucial legal history, and unearthing huge national scandals, In Pursuit of the Truth is the definitive account of modern day policing, its successes and failings included, seen through the eyes of a man who has dedicated his life to making a difference. This is a book that every part of society can learn from.

In Pursuit of the Truth

My life cracking the Met’s most notorious cases (subject of the ITV series, Stephen)

Graham Little

‘It had long ago ceased to be a giddy adventure. It was all mulchy bog, heather and rocks. And tired, aching legs. And then Ty said something that really struck a chord. 
 
“It’s a Man Test now, lads. Just finish it.” 
 
I got it immediately. Finishing the race was no longer about being fit, or a good runner, or map-reading, it was about putting up with wind, rain, pain and misery. It was about traditional pig-headed masculine obstinacy and never letting reason get in the way of your objectives. In short, it was about being a man.’ 
 
Cold, exhausted, sore and hopelessly lost on the side of a Welsh mountain, Graham Little had an unlikely epiphany. Finishing the Peaks Race that he and his friend had naively signed themselves up for wasn’t about being the fittest or strongest or best runner. It was, in fact, about being stubborn and refusing to give in, no matter what. After all, conquering the terrain and beating the elements was incredibly exhilarating. 
 
 
This is the funny and insightful story of Graham Little’s obsession with endurance sports. Graham went on to compete in some of the world’s toughest challenges, including completing an Ironman, running the famous Marathon des Sables in the desert and swimming from Europe to Asia – all while trying (and usually failing) to fit in training around family and domestic duties. Along the way Graham meets people who are just as obsessed and tries to work out what it is about modern life that drives us to take on extreme challenges, no matter how difficult, unpleasant or even dangerous they may be.

Man Tests

Nicholas Pileggi

The Stardust… The Fremont… The Marina. 
They ran them all. 
And they lost. 
Big time. 
 
No one knew more about casinos than Frank 'Lefty' Rosenthal, the gambling mastermind who, along with his best friend and partner, Anthony 'the Ant' Spilotro, virtually ran Las Vegas for the mob. For years it was the perfect arrangement – Lefty provided the smarts, while Tony kept the bosses happy with weekly suitcases filled with millions in skimmed cash. It should have lasted forever but Lefty’s obsessions with running the town – and Tony’s obsession with Lefty’s beautiful showgirl wife, Geri – eventually led to betrayals and investigations that exploded into one of the greatest scandals in mob history. 
 
Casino is the shattering inside account of how the mob finally lost its stranglehold on Las Vegas, the neon money-making machine it had created.

Casino

The Rise and Fall of the Mob in Las Vegas

'I am not a gangster,' I spat. 'I'm a businessman trying to make a hard-earned crust. Understood?' 
 
I didn't give him time to reply. I took the barrel out of his mouth and smashed him in the face with the butt. His lip split, but he wasn't a dead man. He seemed to appreciate that his life had been spared. 
 
He spluttered his thanks: 'Ok, you’re not a gangster. You are not a gangster.' 
 
This is the gripping true story of how one man ruled his north London manor with an iron fist – and a sawn-off shotgun called Kennedy. It’s a shocking insight into a society where the rules are made by gangland leaders and if anybody dare break them, they have to deal with the consequences. 
 
Bobby was sent to prison for the first time in 1967, aged 16, and over the next decade he established himself as a hardened criminal running protection rackets and robberies against a backdrop of all-out gang warfare, where doorstep slayings and bloody shoot-outs were common. 
 
Eventually Bobby was sentenced to 12 years in Britain’s most notorious prisons, along with the Krays, Charlie Richardson and the Yorkshire Ripper. Inside, he was introduced to the Open University and on his release he soon got down to business again. Only this time his efforts saw him go from custody of Her Majesty’s Prison Service to meeting with the Queen herself... 
 
I Am Not A Gangster is an explosive account of life in the criminal underworld by one of Britain’s most dangerous men, but above all it’s a remarkable tale of redemption with the biggest turnaround in gangland history.

I Am Not A Gangster

Dick Lehr

Gerard O'Neill

From the bestselling writers of Black Mass, now a major film, comes the definitive biography of Whitey Bulger – the most brutal modern day mafia boss since Gotti. 
 
 Drawing on previously classified material, Whitey tells the story of James J. ‘Whitey’ Bulger, the crime boss, psychopath and killer who brought the FBI to its knees. From his childhood on the streets of South Boston and his cell in Alcatraz in the 1950s, to the corrupt pact with the FBI and the fifteen years he hid in plain sight as one of the FBI's Ten Most Wanted, Whitey is the story of corruption, greed and an insatiable hunger for power and control. A sadistic crime boss who liked to get his hands dirty even at the top, this explosive biography creates a portrait of a monster, and one of the most successful organised crime careers of all time.

Whitey

Lara McDonnell

At the vulnerable age of 12, Lara McDonnell was picked out by a gang of men who befriended her, showered her with attention and gained her trust. Manipulated and groomed, her life quickly spiralled out of control as the men trafficked her around the country, deliberately keeping her compliant with drink and drugs. Deeply disturbed, and frightened about what the gang would do to her if she tried to break free, it would take over 4 years for Lara to find the strength to fight back, flee Oxford and escape her nightmare. 
 
This is her heartbreaking story.

Girl for Sale

The shocking true story from the girl trafficked and abused by Oxford’s evil sex ring

Max Arthur

This unique landmark oral history uses first-hand accounts from ordinary men and women who were there. Gripping, poignant, surprising and even humorous, the personal experiences of these soldiers, civilians, marines and medics from both sides tell us what it was really like to live through what was supposed to be the war to end all wars. Skilfully assembled by acclaimed author and historian Max Arthur using the IWM’s remarkable sound archive, Forgotten Voices of the Great War became an instant classic on first publication with close to half a million copies sold. 
 
In 1972, the Imperial War Museum began a momentous and important task. A team of academics, archivists and volunteers set about tracing First World War veterans and interviewing them in order to record the experiences of ordinary individuals in war. Since then the Sound Archive has grown to become the largest and most important oral history collections in the world. It now contains over 34,000 recordings, including interviews with veterans of both world wars – both service personnel and non-combatants – recordings relating to Britain and the Empire in the inter-war period 1919–1939, conflicts since 1945 and the Holocaust. 
 
In 2002, Ebury Press published the first edition of Forgotten Voices of the Great War. It was both the first time many of these recordings had been transcribed and published, and the only comprehensive oral history of the First World War. Twelve further books covering aspects of the Second World War, the Falklands and the Victoria Cross followed, selling well over a million copies to date.

Forgotten Voices Of The Great War

James Bannon

'Of course I'm a f**king hooligan, you pr**k. I am a hooligan...there I've said it...I'm a hooligan. And, do you know why? Because that's my f**king job.' 
 
In 1995, a film called I.D., about an ambitious young copper who was sent undercover to track down the ‘generals’ of a football hooligan gang, achieved cult status for its sheer brutality and unsettling insight into the dark and often bloody side of the so-called beautiful game. 
 
The film was so shocking it was hard to believe the mindless events that took place could ever happen in the real world. Well, believe it now... 
 
Almost twenty years on, the man behind the film has explosively revealed that the script was largely a true story. That man, James Bannon, was the ambitious undercover cop. The football club was Millwall F.C. and the gang that he infiltrated was The Bushwackers, among the most brutal and fearless in English football. 
 
In Running with the Firm, Bannon shares his intense and dangerous journey into the underworld of football hooliganism where sickening levels of violence prevail over anything else. He introduces you to the hardest thugs from football’s most notorious gangs, tells all about the secret and almost comical police operations that were meant to bring them down, and, how once you’re on the inside, getting out from the mob proves to be the biggest mission of all. 
 
A disturbing but compelling read, this is the book that proves fact really is stranger than fiction.

Running with the Firm

Kerry Needham

‘It’s amazing how some people can light up a room just by stepping into it. Ben was twenty-one months old and full of smiles. He spread happiness simply by being there.’ 
 
In 1991 Kerry and her son Ben followed Kerry’s parents to live on the Greek island of Kos. On 24 July, she was at work when her mum Christine arrived crying uncontrollably. Ben had been playing outside, and then disappeared. Someone had taken Ben. 
 
In her heartbreaking memoir, Kerry describes the agony of being initially suspected by the police, which meant the closure of airport and ferry terminals were delayed, the early sightings that raised their hopes and the hoaxes which dashed them completely. And the unbearable pain of knowing her baby boy was alone somewhere without his mum. 
 
Back in the UK, the long years of waiting and hoping have been difficult on the whole family. Kerry has raised her daughter, Leighanna, while following up more than 300 leads. 
 
In 2011 they had a breakthrough when South Yorkshire Police agreed to work with the Greek authorities to reopen the case. The chance that Ben will read about himself and come home becomes more real every day. 
 
All of Kerry's royalties from the sale of this book will go toward the Help Find Ben campaign.

Josefina Rivera

'I stood there for a moment, silently speaking to myself: Josefina, you will survive this. You are strong. You are a fighter. You adapt.' 
 
As a young mum-of-three, Josefina Rivera was determined to get her troubled life back on track. But then she met Gary Heidnik and the next four months became a living nightmare. 
 
 Along with five women Josefina was held captive in a cellar where she was starved, beaten, and repeatedly raped to fulfil Heidnik’s desire of creating a ‘family’ of ten children. 
 
Cellar Girl is the shocking but ultimately inspiring story of how one brave, young woman saved herself and others from a life worse than hell.

Cellar Girl

A Private Thriller

A series of children's modern classic novels by renowned 20th century children's writers. All the titles in this series have the A Puffin Book logo, contemporary-style covers, and child-friendly endnotes.

A Puffin Book

A Ripley Novel

A Slice of the Moon

A Victorian Mystery

A Walk in...

A Women’s Murder Club Thriller

A chef Paul Delamare Mystery

Aberrations

Across the Universe

Actiphons

Adelia Aguilar

Adrian Mole

Adventures in Time

Aftermath

Against War

Age of X

Agent 21

Agent Z

Detective Aidan Waits is a troubled junior detective haunted by his past. Facing an uncertain future, and disconnected from his history, DC Waits and his partner, Detective Inspector Peter 'Sutty' Sutcliffe work on Manchester's streets to uncover the city's worst criminals among the grime of the underworld.

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